What if. . . instead of spending the time, energy, money, and effort on developing the “right messages” and the “best marketing practices” for our organizations we focused on becoming a more helpful resource to those we aim to serve.

What if. . . instead of “telling and selling” our donors, we listened to their interests and passions and facilitated their giving to our organizations in ways that serve our needs and theirs.

What if. . . instead of focusing on our growing “to-do” lists, we focused on growing the staff members of our team.

What if. . . instead of everyday being a day focused on our individual work, we took at least one day each quarter to pause, think about, and plan with our colleagues.

What if. . . instead of being “always connected,” we started having face-to-face meetings where smartphones were turned off and emails couldn’t be answered.

What if. . . instead of increasing our email communication flow, we worked to increase the number of face-to-face and phone conversations we have each day.

What if. . . instead of saying that our work is about building relationships, we actually built them.